Where I Belong
by Nadin4400
Summary: Tony and Pepper reunite in New York after the battle between the Avengers and the Chitauri. Missing scene, basically. One-shot. Angst(ish?) Pepperony


I'm a sucker for missing scenes because they usually have so much potential! Anyway, I'm craving more Pepperony after watching Age of Ultron (where we didn't get anything).

* * *

They couldn't turn the plane around. Of course, they couldn't turn the goddamn plane around! It had something to do with the fuel supply and the air space over Manhattan being currently closed for commercial and private planes. Or the other reasons Pepper didn't quite care about. Frankly, she stopped listening to the pilot after his I'm sorry, too consumed by the sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. That, and breathing, which became a bit of an issue by the second.

The whole thing felt surreal. All she could see before her eyes was the wormhole closing and disappearing, and Tony's tiny figure falling from the sky. Trust the media to be there for the spectacle – she could see his drop from every possible angle, in every detail. She was certain her heart stopped beating, but it didn't matter – it didn't matter one bit.

Transfixed, she watched him go down, down, down, and for a moment there – be it for the position of the camera or her mind playing tricks on her – it looked like he was floating, like he was carried by the wind.

They say that when you die, your whole life flashes before your eyes, but no one ever told Pepper Potts that watching someone you love die could make the time stop. Which got her thinking that maybe – maybe! – if they flied fast enough, they'd be able to catch him, break his fall, make it right.

She was vaguely aware of the voices around her, her coworkers gasping and whispering Oh, my God. Someone was talking to her, but she tuned them out, not able to bring herself to care enough to pay attention.

OhGodohGodohGodohGod!

And then something happened, and it was like someone pressed a fast-forward button, and the life resumed its regular pace, feeling weirdly escalated and too loud and too much, and she couldn't breathe. She had only spaced out for a few moments, but those few moments, she thought distractedly, felt like forever.

Pepper didn't have time to dwell on any of that however.

Seconds before Tony was about to hit the ground – and probably tunnel his way to China – something green and huge smashed into him in midair, crashing them both into what had once been a bank, or a broker company, before disappearing from the ever-watchful eyes of the cameras. The different images filled the frames then – of half-destroyed buildings and the dust hanging in the air and smashed glass and scared people. And then - cheering people.

Cheering….

She had only allowed herself to exhale when her mind registered that particular fact. They wouldn't be happy if something bad happened, if something went wrong, would they?

The camera panned past the Stark Tower, or whatever was left of it, and Pepper's heart did another somersault. Was it even possible that no one was seriously hurt, what with all this damage? She had to know, she had to find out—

Ignoring the people around her, she reached for her phone, and felt sick the moment her eyes registered the blinking red light indicating a missed call. She grabbed it and hurried to the nook in the back of the jet serving as a kitchen, currently vacant, as her shaking fingers kept pressing the wrong buttons.

Pick up, pick up, pick up, she begged in her mind, listening to the rings on the other end of the line as she clutched her phone so tight it was a miracle it didn't crack in her hand.

"You've reached Tony Stark, and if you did it on purpose, you know what to do after the beep. Your voicemail will be ignored in the order in which it was received. Beep! … No, wait, it was just me," his flippant message greeted Pepper, making her wonder once again why hadn't anyone ever tried to strange Tony for it alone. And then she tried again. And again. And again. And seven more times for good measure.

The jet trembled beneath her feet, hitting the turbulence zone, and Pepper grabbed on to the wall to steady herself.

She tried Coulson's number next, and then hit the metaphorical brick wall – there was no one else she could call, no one who could give her at least some answers.

But why would he call her? Why would he—

She leaned against the wall and squeezed her eyes shut, biting her lip and forcing herself not to think of all the worst-case scenarios - Why wasn't he flying? Why wasn't he moving? - and failing miserably. She had no right to fall apart, but it seemed like the only thing she was capable of.

It took them another two hours to land in DC, refuel and take off for New York – the time Pepper spent trying not to jump out of her skin. Everything around her felt both sharp and somewhat blurry at the edges. She was wholly present in the moment, surrounded by the commotion of the airport and the light streaming through the floor-to-ceiling windows, and yet she couldn't be more detached, her mind light years away from her body. It felt like watching herself from the distance rather than actually being a pacing tangle of nerves and fear.

It wasn't, however, until they started a slow descend towards New York that the reality finally caught up with her. It knocked the air out of her lungs and left her gasping and dizzy.

If anything happened to him, if anything—

She froze at the top of the aircraft stairs when the jet door opened and Tony was there, right on the landing stripe, leaning against his silver Audi and thus probably violating at least a million safety regulations.

He was squinting in the sun, and she blinked, certain that it was nothing but a trick of light, that he wasn't really there. It felts like a déjà vu – a memory from almost two years ago when he returned from Afghanistan after she almost gave up on ever seeing him alive. Except this time, their roles were reversed. Not that it mattered.

She teetered for a moment in her high-heeled pumps that weren't apparently made for days like this.

And then she was running – flying, really – down the metal stairs only barely managing to keep her balance and not tumble down in a much less graceful way.

Tony pushed himself off the car just as she all but slammed into him, almost knocking them both down. Her silver hairclip unclasped and clattered to the ground, making her hair fall on her face and shoulders, free and glowing in the fading light, as she wrapped her arms around him. He stiffened somewhat on the impact, a low grunt escaping his throat as his body protested against the assault, but the next moment he was holding onto her just as fiercely.

"Tony…" Pepper breathed out soundlessly, only realizing how violently she was shaking when his arms were holding her still.

She felt him press his lips to the side of her head, and squeezed her eyes shut. He smelled of metal, blood, sweat, and the aftershave she was pretty sure seeped into his skin after all the years he'd been using it with an almost religious devotion. The one that smelled like home her these days.

He felt real, solid, and Pepper's knees almost buckled at the force of relief that washed over her body, only now making her realize that until this very moment she didn't think she'd ever see him again.

"I've got some bad news, baby," Tony whispered into her hair. "I'm afraid we kind of… broke your tower."

Incredulous, she pulled back just enough to see his face, unsure if she wanted to cry or laugh, or both. He was making jokes, which meant that either everything was fine, or that they were so screwed that it didn't matter anymore. She chose to believe in the former.

He looked awful, worse than she'd ever seen him after the mission (which was saying a lot), all worn out and beat, and, by the looks of it, barely standing on his feet. His hair was coated with a fine layer of dust, there was dried blood on his temple, scratches across the bridge of his nose and jaw line, and a bruise that only started to show, but that would surely take residence on his cheekbone for a while.

"What?" Tony frowned under her scrutiny. "Is there something on my face?" And then, "Are you okay?"

"Am I okay?" Pepper pushed his hair out of his face, revealing yet another nasty looking gash on his forehead, just below the hairline. "Are youokay?"

"Been worse." The corner of his mouth tugged up a bit. "No, really, there was this one weekend when I was in college…" He trailed off, shrugging. "You should see the other guy… Guys. Whatever they were."

"You look awful."

"And here I was hoping to play it cool." He shook his head, his voice mock-hurt. "But you've gotta admit – it looked awesome! Didn't it look awesome? I really tried to make it look awesome."

And just like that, Pepper pushed away from him and stepped back, suddenly more furious than she'd ever been. There was dark rage bubbling and churning inside of her, threatening to take over her, or make her explode.

She sucked in a shaky breath. "How could you do it, Tony?"

"Okay, you'll have to be a bit more specific here, honey. It's been a really long day, and let's face it, you could be talking about ten things I did before breakfast."

"I missed your call—" She started. "You called me. You called me because you thought you were going to die!"

Tony grimaced and ran his hand through his hair. "Yeah, okay, that decision wasn't entirely thought through. I admit it."

"What if something happened to you? What if you—"

"-died alone in a parallel dimension, trying to save this world, and you'd have to live with this unanswered phone call for the rest of your life?" He deadpanned. "I can now see the enormity of your guilt. I mean, I had the whole speech prepared. It probably sucked, but it was worth a try."

Pepper shook her head. "You're such a jerk."

He caught her by the wrist, and, when she didn't resist, pulled her towards him again.

"I'm sorry, Pep." He brushed a strand of her hair from her cheek, tucking it behind her ear. "I really am. I shouldn't have done it. I shouldn't have called."

"I'd never forgive you if you didn't."

"Noted."

Pepper leaned into him again, tucking her face into the crook of his neck, her fingers clutching a fistful of his shirt as if she feared he could… disappear or something. "I hate you so much right now," she murmured into his skin.

A soft chuckle vibrated through Tony's body. He rested his chin on her shoulder. "Yeah, I get that a lot."

"Don't you dare scare me like this ever again."

"Well, I can't promise you that, not with Halloween coming—"

"Tony."

"But I promise you a very quiet Christmas. How about that?"

"You're so lucky I don't have anything to hurl at you head right now."

"I get that a lot, too."

A gust of wind brought the smell of fuel and dust and the unmistakable whiff of the Hudson River nearby. The setting sun was coloring the vast expanse of the landing stripe in pink and golden, and in the sudden quiet that settled around them – as if someone pressed the pause button and made the world stop spinning – Tony Stark realizes that he had never been happier to be alive.

Sure, he had a couple of cracked ribs, and his body ached in places he didn't even know existed, which was just a beginning – if history was any indication, the full-blown party would definitely start tomorrow and he'd be lucky to get out of bed without a handful of painkiller. He did have a memory or two that had somewhat similar consequences. He felt broken in some many ways it wasn't even funny.

But holding Pepper, feeling her breath on his skin and her rapid, frantic heartbeat against his chest was making it worthwile. He looked up into the clear darkening sky and exhaled slowly. Exhausted as he was, he'd never felt more alive.

"Hey, you want to get out of here?" Tony asked into her hair, his lips fleetingly grazing her temple. God, she felt good.

Pepper nodded and stepped back. She let her eyes wander around his face, taking in the dark circles under his eyes and the poorly masked fear pooling in his eyes. "How did you even know we'd come here?"

"It's my plane, Pepper. Believe it or not, I do know – occasionally – what's going on with it."

Her lips curved into a half-smile. "JARVIS?"

"JARVIS." He squeezed her hand one last time before letting go of it and pulling the door open for her. Even if this was the closest he'd ever get to riding off into the sunset, he'd take it. He'd take it and be happy. "You wanna stop for some Chinese?"


End file.
